Executive Search with Depth — Part IV:
The Art of Finding the Best Fit

With our series Inter­nal, we grant you a look inside our Valdivia’s “machine room”: In the previ­ous arti­cle, we looked at some funda­men­tal steps at the begin­ning of the search process. Today, the search itself is at the centre of our arti­cle, the search for the candi­date who best fits a given vacant exec­u­tive poisi­tion. Research is the essen­tial element of this second mile­stone of our Valdivia Exec­u­tive Search Process. And, at this stage, too, we offer you – both as a corpo­rate client and as a candi­date – an approach char­ac­ter­ized by dili­gence and long-stand­ing experience.

Construc­tive Consult­ing: From Wish­ing to Targetting

The first step of research serves to achieve clar­i­ty as to how to best fill the posi­tion – for ourselves and for the client. This is by no means always conclu­sive. Some­times, compa­nies have a complex set of require­ments that may be hard to fulfil by a single person. In this case, it is all about defin­ing prior­i­ties or possi­bly initi­at­ing struc­tur­al change process­es. In other cases, there is a clear-cut concept of the type of exper­tise desired for a posi­tion. Upon clos­er scruti­ny, we may find, for instance,  that a differ­ent type of qual­i­fi­ca­tion would be substan­tial­ly better for the position.

This is how we cast a light on detail to define which person with which skills and abil­i­ties will be consid­ered for the vacant posi­tion. It is our perspec­tive as an outside observ­er that enables us to see the task at hand objec­tive­ly and, if neces­sary, push for correc­tions. Reten­tion and sustain­abil­i­ty are addi­tion­al impor­tant aspects when fill­ing a posi­tion: which person­al­i­ty will like­ly be the right choice for the posi­tion in ques­tion, even in three or five years? Gender, on the other hand, has become irrel­e­vant: Even in the tradi­tion­al­ly male-domi­nat­ed build­ing and real estate sector, there is a clear tenden­cy to fill exec­u­tive posi­tions inde­pen­dent of gender, some­times even with a certain pref­er­ence for female candidates.

Valdivia’s Know-How: Saving Time and Spar­ing Detours

In the second phase, we will first iden­ti­fy poten­tial candi­dates – at region­al level and beyond. Our power­ful and specialised Valdivia Exec­u­tive Search data base is the most impor­tant source for this process. Anoth­er specialised tool for the search is our list of compa­nies. It helps us to iden­ti­fy candi­dates who do not only have the required qual­i­fi­ca­tions but also expe­ri­ence with our customer’s  busi­ness model.

Addi­tion­al­ly, we also use a high­ly diver­si­fied, reli­able network of thou­sands of exec­u­tives and special­ists. This way, we are able to soon present our customers with a long-list of suit­able contacts in the rele­vant busi­ness sector – obvi­ous­ly in strict accor­dance with priva­cy and data protec­tion rules and regu­la­tions. As soon as the customer informs us which candi­date they are consid­er­ing and which not, we will contact the select­ed persons in a discreet way. In some cases, should the customer wish us to do so, we will addi­tion­al­ly place detailed job adver­tise­ments or direct­ly approach indi­vid­ual people, whom the customer will have given us form their own list of contacts.

It is in this phase that more of our work’s special features will show. Often­times, we will be able to present a first selec­tion of candi­dates in a rela­tive­ly short peri­od of time. The same way, we will at times be able to arrange for a first face-to-face meet­ing between customer and candi­date even after only a few weeks, both parties’ avail­abil­i­ty provid­ed, of course.

Manag­ing Contacts: Good Fore­sight Is Good Value

As much as we value rapid success, we will never fail to pay atten­tion to long-term success and sustain­abil­i­ty. Once having meet a qual­i­fy­ing exec­u­tive level person­al­i­ty, we will be happy to stay in touch, even if the customer has settled for a differ­ent candi­date. And so our network grows with every single project. And we will get back to this person when  a new oppor­tu­ni­ty occurs as we are mandat­ed a suit­able and inter­est­ing position.